HELP... People with Rear QA1 shocks inside!

Ok, finally got around to putting these into my car, install was pretty easy, followed injuneer's install very well except for the part of being able to put a wrench on the top of the QA1's from underneath the car to really tighten the nut on the inside of the car since i didnt pull the whole rearend out.

Anyways, I take it out for a spin afterwards and had the shocks set to 5 clicks (like Injuneers directions said to start) and now on the smoothest of roads, the car feels like it is bouncing in the back... is setting 5 too soft or too firm? The only other suspension I have is Lakewood LCA's

Anybody have input on this? Or want to let me know what their shocks are set to? The ride is not all that comfortable when it is constantly bouncing like this... any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Yeah, 5 is pretty stiff for the street, that is what I started on when I first installed them and I got the same bouncing effect. I have them set on 1 now and it is alot more tolerable. The QA1s aren't really meant for street comfort.

oh wow... set to 1? That is really soft, I'll have to try that.

It did seem to be A LOT more responsive under heavy throttle, like it just squatted and stayed put.

What's the setting reccomended for track use?

I had mine initially with Eibach Pro-Kit springs, and the ride was HORRIBLE! The back end had a constant up and down "chop" like a slammed S10 riding on its solid rear axle. I started in the 5 or 6 range, and it was choppy. To get rid of the chop, I dropped it lower.... 2 or 3, but then the shocks really weren't controlling the rear end properly.

After swapping to the Eibach Drag Launch springs in the back, the chop went away. I normally run them at 5 or 6 at the track (I do NOT want "squat") and don't bother readjusting them for the street.

I just installed mine aswell.... QA1's and i had it set on 4 and it was real bouncy and on 8 its bouncy too

can anyone help with that or what i should do?

Injuneer, so do you just leave them at 5 or 6 and deal with the bouncing then?

What do you mean at setting 1, 2, or 3 they arent really "controlling" the rear end?

I don't have any more "bounce" with my Drag Launch springs. It was only the Pro-Kit springs that didn't seem to like the QA1 shocks.

When you soften the shock, you are reducing the resistance to compression. That's good for a drag application, IF you want the rear end to squat. But for road use, the back end is going to be too loose, flopping up and down even more. Instead of the "chop" that I had with the Pro-Kits, loosening up the shocks left the back end "floating".... not sure how to describe it any other way.

But with current setup, the ride is not "bouncy". And I also don't use the car the way I used to on the street..... solid rods end LCA's and TA, solid rod end end links on a 1-5/16" solid chrome moly "drag style" sway bar, and a few other things are not conducive to high speed cornering. Goes real nice in a straight line though.... :D

well this sucks... LOL, i dont know whether to just deal with the chopping or leave it loose for the street. I can see what you mean that the rearend is "floating" when set to the softer settings...

Apparently when I am ready to do new springs, I will have to go with some from QA1 to compliment the shock rather than the eibachs.

So when at the track, the shocks should be more on the softer side (settings 1-6ish) rather than stiffer (7-12)???

What springs do QA1 sell for the rear?

What springs do QA1 sell for the rear?
Unless you get the QA1 coilovers, there are not seperate QA1 springs for the rear.

oh, i thought Sean from Speed Engineering mentioned that they do have shocks for the QA1's on the rear. I guess I was mistaken.

So apparently I will have to get drag springs in order to make this permanently go away so I can use the other settings? That kinda sucks... wish I would have known this prior to purchase...

oh, i thought Sean from Speed Engineering mentioned that they do have shocks for the QA1's on the rear. I guess I was mistaken.

So apparently I will have to get drag springs in order to make this permanently go away so I can use the other settings? That kinda sucks... wish I would have known this prior to purchase...
Maybe you were thinking of the fronts, they sell three different rates of springs for those.

What are the spring options for the rear? Injuneer mentioned the drag springs, Ive heard of stock being used and Ive heard of Global west being used. What are some other options? I'm going to go with stock until I can get some ebiches.

What are the spring options for the rear? Injuneer mentioned the drag springs, Ive heard of stock being used and Ive heard of Global west being used. What are some other options? I'm going to go with stock until I can get some ebiches.
I'm wondering the same thing as you, the only options I know of are either stock, which I have now, or the Eibach Drag Springs.:shrug:

Spohn sells a coil-over conversion for the rear, and that uses the QA1 shocks and QA1 springs.

In the front you are not limited to QA1 springs, but if you want to use a stock-like replacement or Eibach spring in the front, you have to use a modified lower spring seat on top of the QA1 spring seat.

Ok, im kinda concerned... I never fully dropped the rear end out when doing this install... is that necessary to get these shocks fully bolted up? My car looks like it is sitting lower than with the stock shocks. I was never able to access that nut on the top of the QA1 shocks from underneath the car because I never dropped the rearend out. Im wondering if the top nuts are not fully tightened because of this... help! Do I need to go redo this job?

Injuneer?

You lost me.... If I recall correctly, the "nut" on the top of the QA1 shock (accessed from under the car) shaft is there so you can hold the shaft and keep it from rotating when you are tightening (or loosening) the nut that goes on top of the bushings (accessed inside the car). I remember doing the shocks by myself, and wedging an open-end wrench on the lower nut, and hoping it stayed there while I tightened the upper nut, from inside the car.

There is no reason you should have to drop the rearend "out" to replace the shocks.

I'm afraid to tell you that what you seeing is pretty typical of those shocks. And that's because they aren't good dampers. They are for weight transfer and do very little in terms of controlling springs properly. You can see that by the fact you changed them and not much changed.....

This is the problem with cheap adjusters (not that the shocks were cheap, but the adjustment mechanism is). You make the softer and stiffer, but you are always stuck in a situation that's never quite right for anything but just weight transfer (which, fwiw is the opposite of damping.... and shocks are spring *dampers*).

Agreed... I would never run the QA1's on a car that I expected to handle above average, or even to handle as well as the stock deCarbons. The QA1's are a "compromise" at best.

You lost me.... If I recall correctly, the "nut" on the top of the QA1 shock (accessed from under the car) shaft is there so you can hold the shaft and keep it from rotating when you are tightening (or loosening) the nut that goes on top of the bushings (accessed inside the car). I remember doing the shocks by myself, and wedging an open-end wrench on the lower nut, and hoping it stayed there while I tightened the upper nut, from inside the car.

There is no reason you should have to drop the rearend "out" to replace the shocks.
I cannot access that nut on the top of the shaft w/o taking the springs out, hence dropping the rearend, but not completely out i guess. Just enough to get the springs out correct... or can you get it tight enough w/o having to access that nut?

I did notice the shaft start to turn after I got the nuts on there, and after it started doing that, tightening the upper nuts any more was pretty much pointless.

Here's a pic I took of mine when having the "drag" style rear sway bar installed. Everything on the car was assembled, springs intact, etc. Or are you running the "coil over" conversion? I remember pushing the open-end wrench over the nut, and wedging the end of the wrench against the spring to hold it in place while I climbed inside the car. It only fell off once or twice.... :)

http://www.injuneer.com/images/photos/Suspension/DCP03549a.jpg

No, i didnt get the coil over conversion, just the regular bolt in 12 way adjustables.

oh, so you were able to get the wrench on there with the springs in tact? Interesting, I took one look at that and said, how in the hell am I gonna get a wrench on there... LOL

I'll have to try and do what you did... hopefully I have a wrench small enough to try it. That looks really tight, i dont know how you did that... we will see i guess.

You don't need to remove the rear to remove the springs. Disconnect your sway bar end links and lower shock mount. This will allow enough travel of the rear to remove the springs if they're in your way.

Ok, got back under tonight, only to discover that after being able to lock the wrench on underneath and have someone up top tighten it, it was over tightened and now the top part of the passenger shock is stripped!!!! I AM FURIOUS!!!! Oh, and once i just tightned up the driver side a little more i realized they were pretty much on all the way and had nothing to worry about this whole time... Wow, now i have to get another one overnighted so that I can drive again... SO FRUSTRATING!!!

When it says to tighten it so the bushings start to compress on the top of the shock... i figure this means that once you see them just start to bulge out a little bit is good... right?

Forgive me, this story is evidence that I am a suspension newbie... Any insight Injuneer is GREATLY appreciated!

Unless you get the QA1 coilovers, there are not seperate QA1 springs for the rear.
Which are these

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/speedracer5532/qa1shocks.jpg

thanks for cluttering up the thread... i think we are past that issue.

sorry, i am a bit pissed off at what happened tonight with the shocks... read two posts up for the full story... and hopefully Injuneer can shed some light on the "tighten til the bushings start to compress" issue...

Wow. Excuse me.

When the bushings begin to bulge, they should be tight enough. A little road test will generally tell you if they really are. I never had an issure with the rod turning when tightening the ones I used to have. Maybe you did because you over-tightened the nut.

I'm with Rob.... tighten down the top nut/washer until you see the bushings start to get wider. Did you consider recutting the threads with the next size smaller die?

Which are these

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/speedracer5532/qa1shocks.jpg
The fronts are the QA1 coil-overs, with the BMR spring seat. The rears are plain shocks. Rear coil-overs would look like this:

http://www.spohn.net/productimages/736_1_big.jpg

I'm with Rob.... tighten down the top nut/washer until you see the bushings start to get wider. Did you consider recutting the threads with the next size smaller die?
Yea, that is what i figured with the bushing, the driver side one looks fine, its just starting to bulge out from under the washer. I just had the person stop tightening when I felt a little bit of tension on the wrench that I had locked onto the shock from underneath.

I think we did overtighten the passenger side one, and then tried to back it off and the nut would not move, so the threads really got messed up bad. There was a lot of resistance and then when we finally started to get it loose, it just kept spinning and not coming off. Im not sure if i could even re-cut them, they are marred up really bad. :mad:

Looks like I will have to contact Sean at Speed Engineering to get me another one ASAP...

Sorry HondaHunter... I was just pissed off last night at the whole issue.